The Small House at Allington
months in which to manoeuvre, to declare his purposes, and prepare
for the future events of his life. As he resolved on a certain
morning that he would say his first tender word to Lady Dumbello that
very night, in the drawing-room of Lady De Courcy, where he knew that
he should meet her, a letter came to him by the post. He well knew
the hand and the intimation which it would contain. It was from the
duke's agent, Mr. Fothergill, and informed him that a certain sum of
money had been placed to his credit at his banker's. But the letter
went further, and informed him also that the duke had given his agent
to understand that special instructions would be necessary before the
next quarterly payment could be made. Mr. Fothergill said nothing
further, but Mr. Palliser understood it all. He felt his blood run
cold round his heart; but, nevertheless, he determined that he would
not break his word to Lady De Courcy that night.
And Lady Dumbello received her letter also on the same morning. She
was being dressed as she read it, and the maidens who attended her
found no cause to suspect that anything in the letter had excited her
ladyship. Her ladyship was not often excited, though she was vigilant
in exacting from them their utmost cares. She read her letter,
however, very carefully, and as she sat beneath the toilet implements
of her maidens thought deeply of the tidings which had been brought
to her. She was angry with no one;--she was thankful to no one. She
felt no special love for any person concerned in the matter. Her
heart did not say, "Oh, my lord and husband!" or, "Oh, my lover!" or,
"Oh, my mother, the friend of my childhood!" But she became aware
that matter for thought had been brought before her, and she did
think. "Send my love to Lord Dumbello," she said, when the operations
were nearly completed, "and tell him that I shall be so glad to see
him if he will come to me while I am at breakfast."
"Yes, my lady." And then the message came back: "His lordship would
be with her ladyship certainly."
"Gustavus," she said, as soon as she had seated herself discreetly in
her chair, "I have had a letter from my mother, which you had better
read;" and she handed to him the document. "I do not know what I
have done to deserve such suspicions from her; but she lives in the
country, and has probably been deceived by ill-natured people. At any
rate you must read it, and tell me what I should do."
We may predicate from this that Mr. Palliser's chance of being able
to shipwreck himself upon that rock was but small, and that he would,
in spite of himself, be saved from his uncle's anger. Lord Dumbello
took the letter and read it very slowly, standing, as he did so, with
his back to the fire. He read it very slowly, and his wife, though
she never turned her face directly upon his, could perceive that he
became very red, that he was fluttered and put beyond himself, and
that his answer was not ready. She was well aware that his conduct
to her during the last three months had been much altered from his
former usages; that he had been rougher with her in his speech when
alone, and less courteous in his attention when in society; but she
had made no complaint or spoken a word to show him that she had
marked the change. She had known, moreover, the cause of his altered
manner, and having considered much, had resolved that she would live
it down. She had declared to herself that she had done no deed and
spoken no word that justified suspicion, and therefore she would make
no change in her ways, or show herself to be conscious that she was
suspected. But now,--having her mother's letter in her hand,--she
could bring him to an explanation without making him aware that
she had ever thought that he had been jealous of her. To her, her
mother's letter was a great assistance. It justified a scene like
this, and enabled her to fight her battle after her own fashion. As
for eloping with any Mr. Palliser, and giving up the position which
she had won;--no, indeed! She had been fastened in her grooves
too well for that! Her mother, in entertaining any fear on such a
subject, had shown herself to be ignorant of the solidity of her
daughter's character.
"Well, Gustavus," she said at last. "You must say what answer I shall
make, or whether I shall make any answer." But he was not even yet
ready to instruct her. So he unfolded the letter and read it again,
and she poured out for herself a cup of tea.
"It's a very serious matter," said he.
"Yes, it is serious; I could not but think such a letter from my
mother to be serious. Had it come from any one else I doubt whether
I should have troubled you; unless, indeed, it had been from any as
near to you as she is to me. As it is, you cannot but feel that I am
right."
"Right! Oh, yes, you are right,--quite right to tell me; you should
tell me everything. D---- them!" But whom he meant to condemn he did
not explain.
"I am above all things averse to cause you trouble," she said. "I
have seen some little things of late--"
"Has he ever said anything to you?"
"Who,--Mr. Palliser? Never a word."
"He has hinted at nothing of this kind?"
"Never a word. Had he done so, I must have made you understand that
he could not have been allowed again into my drawing-room." Then
again he read the letter, or pretended to do so.
"Your mother means well," he said.
"Oh, yes, she means well. She has been foolish to believe the
tittle-tattle that has reached her,--very foolish to oblige me to
give you this annoyance."
"Oh, as for that, I'm not annoyed. By Jove, no. Come, Griselda, let
us have it all out; other people have said this, and I have been
unhappy. Now, you know it all."
"Have I made you unhappy?"
"Well, no; not you. Don't be hard upon me when I tell you the whole
truth. Fools and brutes have whispered things that have vexed me.
They may whisper till the devil fetches them, but they shan't annoy
me again. Give me a kiss, my girl." And he absolutely put out his
arms and embraced her. "Write a good-natured letter to your mother,
and ask her to come up for a week in May. That'll be the best thing;
and then she'll understand. By Jove, it's twelve o'clock. Good-by."
Lady Dumbello was well aware that she had triumphed, and that her
mother's letter had been invaluable to her. But it had been used, and
therefore she did not read it again. She ate her breakfast in quiet
comfort, looking over a milliner's French circular as she did so; and
then, when the time for such an operation had fully come, she got to
her writing-table and answered her mother's letter.
DEAR MAMMA [she said],
I thought it best to show your letter at once to Lord
Dumbello. He said that people would be ill-natured, and
seemed to think that the telling of such stories could
not be helped. As regards you, he was not a bit angry,
but said that you and papa had better come to us for a
week about the end of next month. Do come. We are to
have rather a large dinner-party on the 23rd. His Royal
Highness is coming, and I think papa would like to meet
him. Have you observed that those very high bonnets have
all gone out: I never liked them; and as I had got a hint
from Paris, I have been doing my best to put them down. I
do hope nothing will prevent your coming.
Your affectionate daughter,
G. DUMBELLO.
Carlton Gardens, Wednesday.
Mrs. Grantly was aware, from the moment in which she received the
letter, that she had wronged her daughter by her suspicions. It did
not occur to her to disbelieve a word that was said in the letter,
or an inference that was implied. She had been wrong, and rejoiced
that it was so. But nevertheless there was that in the letter which
annoyed and irritated her, though she could not explain to herself
the cause of her annoyance. She had thrown all her heart into that
which she had written, but in the words which her child had written
not a vestige of heart was to be found. In that reconciling of God
and Mammon which Mrs. Grantly had carried on so successfully in the
education of her daughter, the organ had not been required, and had
become withered, if not defunct, through want of use.
"We will not go there, I think," said Mrs. Grantly, speaking to her
husband.
"Oh dear, no; certainly not. If you want to go to town at all, I will
take rooms for you. And as for his Royal Highness--! I have a great
respect for his Royal Highness, but I do not in the least desire to
meet him at Dumbello's table."
And so that matter was settled, as regarded the inhabitants of
Plumstead Episcopi.
And whither did Lord Dumbello betake himself when he left his wife's
room in so great a hurry at twelve o'clock? Not to the Park, nor to
Tattersall's, nor to a Committee-room of the House of Commons, nor
yet to the bow-window of his club. But he went straight to a great
jeweller's in Ludgate-hill, and there purchased a wonderful green
necklace, very rare and curious, heavy with green sparkling drops,
with three rows of shining green stones embedded in chaste gold,--a
necklace amounting almost to a jewelled cuirass in weight and
extent. It had been in all the exhibitions, and was very costly and
magnificent. While Lady Dumbello was still dressing in the evening
this was brought to her with her lord's love, as his token of renewed
confidence; and Lady Dumbello, as she counted the sparkles, triumphed
inwardly, telling herself that she had played her cards well.
But while she counted the sparkles produced by her full
reconciliation with her lord, poor Plantagenet Palliser was still
trembling in his ignorance. If only he could have been allowed to see
Mrs. Grantly's letter, and the lady's answer, and the lord's present!
But no such seeing was vouchsafed to him, and he was carried off in
his brougham to Lady De Courcy's house, twittering with expectant
love, and trembling with expectant ruin. To this conclusion he had
come at any rate, that if anything was to be done, it should be
done now. He would speak a word of love, and prepare his future in
accordance with the acceptance it might receive.
Lady De Courcy's rooms were very crowded when he arrived there. It
was the first great crushing party of the season, and all the world
had been collected into Portman Square. Lady De Courcy was smiling as
though her lord had no teeth, as though her eldest son's condition
was quite happy, and all things were going well with the De Courcy
interests. Lady Margaretta was there behind her, bland without
and bitter within; and Lady Rosina also, at some further distance,
reconciled to this world's vanity and finery because there was to
be no dancing. And the married daughters of the house were there
also, striving to maintain their positions on the strength of their
undoubted birth, but subjected to some snubbing by the lowness
of their absolute circumstances. Gazebee was there, happy in the
absolute fact of his connection with an earl, and blessed with the
consideration that was extended to him as an earl's son-in-law. And
Crosbie, also, was in the rooms,--was present there, though he had
sworn to himself that he would no longer dance attendance on the
countess, and that he would sever himself away from the wretchedness
of the family. But if he gave up them and their ways, what else would
then be left to him? He had come, therefore, and now stood alone,
sullen, in a corner, telling himself that all was vanity. Yes; to the
vain all will be vanity; and to the poor of heart all will be poor.
Lady Dumbello was there in a small inner room, seated on a couch to
which she had been brought on her first arrival at the house, and
on which she would remain till she departed. From time to time some
very noble or very elevated personage would come before her and say